The Structure of Credit Card Numbers

Starting in 2017, Mastercard has been introducing a new series of BIN-codes as a part of their issued credit card numbers. The first six digits represent the BIN part of the credit card number and are being used to uniquely identify the emitter (for example Visa, Mastercard or American Express) but also provide information about whether a gold card is being presented to the merchant, as well as if it is a primary-, secondary-, partner- or business-card.

Different credit card emitters have different BIN ranges reserved for them. Credit cards from Visa always start with the digit 4, while Mastercard has been using a two-digit range from 51 to 55. Mastercard have now introduced a new range, which starts with 2.

To stay compatible, every RaiseNow widget has been upgraded to be able to verify this new format.

But how are credit card numbers being composed?

Typically, a complete credit card number ranges from 13 up to 19 digits. Credit card numbers are being composed by using a math formula based on modulo 10, which is basically an algorithm that has been implemented as code in the widget that runs in the web browser. This way, entered credit card numbers can be validated in real time.

Want to try it for yourself?

Use this valid, non-working Mastercard BIN2-series number to see if it is being validated in your widget: 2720 9972 0652 9952

If you set your widget to test mode, you may even submit payments using the valid, non-working credit card numbers listed here. These numbers have special meaning however with our payment provider Datatrans - following the test rules listed in the linked article, you can test and see what happens if a card limit has been transcended, the card has expired or a transaction has been blocked for other reasons.